Bribery relating to investments in Cambodian biofuel (Sustainable Growth Group) In 2012, the SFO launched an investigation into the mis-selling of investment products between April 2011 and February 2012 relating to biofuel Jatropha tree plantations in Cambodia by Sustainable Growth Group (SGG) and its subsidiary Sustainable AgroEnergy plc (SAE). The biofuel products were sold to UK investors, who were, […]

Posted on April 19, 2016 in Africa, Americas, FATCA/CRS, Seychelles, United States The Seychelles government has released guidance notes for financial institutions on how to comply with the FATCA intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between Seychelles and the United States. Seychelles is negotiating a Model 1B IGA with the US. On May 28, 2014, Seychelles agreed in […]

The Financial Services Commission of Mauritius (FSC Mauritius) and the Financial Services Authority of the Seychelles (FSA) have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the beginning of March. According to the official press release, both regulatory bodies will provide joint support and information exchange. Taking into account the increasing commitment of […]

The U.K. Serious Fraud Office secured its first criminal conviction under the Bribery Act, after two men were found guilty Friday of offenses under the 2011 law. The convictions came as part of an SFO probe into the promotion and sale of biofuel investment products to U.K. investors, the agency said in a statement. They […]

Scarcely three weeks after the announcement that relations between the Bank of Muscat International Offshore (BMIO) and its correspondent bank had broken down, the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) has announced that it has “taken control of BMIO effective today November 11, 2014”. According to a press statement issued by CBS this afternoon, the reserve […]

Is the BMI Offshore bank under investigation by the FIU or not? The bank closed unexpectedly yesterday and its staff has vanished while documents have been seized by the authorities. Yet, the FIU says it is not investigating the bank per se. By A.De Giorgio The grapevine has been buzzing with news that the BMI […]

According to a press communiqué released by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) this week, funds from the bank account of a company registered in the Seychelles, named Asia Pacific Group International Limited, were frozen after the FIU was made aware of the fraudulent activity. The boiler room scam is named for its unauthorized offshore investment […]

An opposition lawmaker charged that the government and Central Bank were silent over allegations that influential Sri Lankans could be using Seychelles as a transit point to launder money into Swiss bank accounts. Earlier, Seychelles Foreign Ministry refuted such allegations, but did not discount under-the-table deals. UNP MP Dr. Harsha De Silva, a trained economist, […]